The Girl Who Feared The Sky
by CrystalHeartZyx
Summary: An apology for not updating. Happy Valentine's Day, here's something I managed to squeak out.


**I'm so sorry for not updating any of my stories. I have been working on them in the background, I _swear_, but I've been so busy and writer's block is a bitch and I've also been distracted with a Final Fantasy VII story and my Shadowhunters story and my HoO story and my At the End of Time story, and also FFXIII because I love it but I'm having trouble writing a battle scene and AAAAAHHHHH LIFE TEARS ME AWAY KICKING AND SCREAMING!**

**On another note, Happy Valentine's Day! Now, my English teacher gave me an assignment due today and I based it off something from Crisis Core because OH MY GOSH IT IS BEAUTIFUL! So since it counts as Fanfic, I have it to post. Only problem? She set the limit to 3 pages on a Google doc with size 12 font, Times New Roman, double spaced, and so I had to cut a crap ton of it out (it still ended up four pages plus a paragraph or two on a fifth lol ;P). I may write my full idea if some readers want to see it (shameless attempt to ask for reviews).**

**Without further ado, I present to you my short story. Enjoy!**

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**The Girl Who Feared the Sky**

Only the rich ever got to see the sky. The city of Midgard was built with two layers; the rich lived above a large Plate; the poor lived beneath the Plate in the slums. I lived above the Plate my whole life, and though I knew the slums existed, I had never gone there before. Until, one day, my friend, Angel, convinced me to go play near the power plant at the edge of the Plate. The two of us believed the entire place was deserted, but there were machines searching for intruders and maintenance issues. Angel pushed me out of sight of the patrol bots, but I ended up rolling onto a thin grate. Next thing I knew, there was a loud clank and I was falling. I was falling through the Plate; I was falling to the slums.

"Hell-lloooo?"

When I opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar face staring down at me. I was groggy enough to think I was in heaven at first, but as I began to regain consciousness, I concluded that nope, I was alive as ever. Somehow. And also there was a girl standing above me.

"Hell-lloooo?" She beamed when she saw I was awake. "Hooray! You're alive!"

I grunted, testing to see if all my limbs were still there, and sat up. My body felt like it'd been hit by a truck; otherwise, nothing appeared to be broken. "How did…where am I?"

"My home, silly." She pointed upwards, and I realized there was a large hole in the roof. "You fell from the sky; you scared me."

I looked around, quickly surmising that the building I was in wasn't exactly luxurious. The place was in shambles, to say the least. "This…is your home?"

I knew that people in the slums weren't as well off as the people on the Plate, but this dilapidated building was dark and empty like a cavern or grotto. There was evidence of human life, but clearly long since departed. The architecture here looked medieval, like something out of a children's novel. The whole place was lit only by the light coming from the fissures in the roof. A moment later, I registered that I'd fallen in a bed of flowers growing under a stream of sunlight entering through one of the roof's openings, ethereal as a beam from heaven itself.

"Sorta. I'm Sirea. You?"

"Kaz."

She held out a hand to help me to my feet. "Nice to meet you, Kaz. Now, how about you explain why you fell out of the sky and into my flower bed?"

As it turns out, I had simply fallen in an abandoned warehouse a short distance from Sirea's actual home. When we walked out the door, she looked around quickly and then pointed to a relatively big and cozy house, surrounded by even more flowers. Sirea offered to take me to the central sector of the Plate to help me get back up to my home. As it turns out, the slums were just like any other city, with streets, buildings, neighborhoods, regular-looking people, vehicles, and even a market place. But along the way, I realized that there was something still off.

"Kinda stuffy."

"What is?" Sirea asked. "It's _always_ like this down here."

It took a moment for me to find the words, but then, I looked up. "I know! You can't see the _sky!_ It's blocked by the Plate!"

Sirea lowered her head. "Who would want to see the _sky?_ I sure don't."

"Wouldn't you normally miss seeing the sky if you live under the Plate all year long?"

"I suppose I'm not normal. The sky frightens me; it's reaching down to swallow me up. It'll pull me up into its endless abyss; I'll never touch the ground again; I'll be adrift. I could get lost in its depths with no hope of escape." She shook her head. "Nevermind. It's dumb."

"Hey, being normal is overrated anyway. How about this? _I'll_ take you to see the sky. You can visit my place; the sky is really easy to see from up there. At certain times of the day, it turns all sorts of warm colors like red and purple. Then, at night, there are stars that shimmer and glint like giant specks of glitter. The sky's not frightening at all; it's beautiful, I promise; I know you're going to love it. And if it _does_ scare you, I'll be here the whole time. You can hold my hand to keep you grounded the entire time. Consider it a thanks for saving me."

She tilted her head in confusion. "I didn't really save you. I said, '_Hell-lloooo_,' that's all."

"Your _flowers_ saved me, and _you_ planted them." She shifted her weight from foot to foot, clearly still hesitant. "Hmm…then what if it's my apology for dropping in on you so suddenly?"

She gave a small smile, hesitating with a far-off look in her eyes as she considered it before she looked me in the eyes again and nodded. "Okay."

"There you are! Sneaky little runt!"

We both looked to the voice, seeing a group of men wearing black suits who were obviously not from the slums. Whoever they were, they were looking directly at us. For a moment, I considered that they were searching for me - surely Angel had reported how I'd gone missing. But I quickly reconsidered when I saw Sirea's gaze harden at the sight of the group. She seemed to become an entirely new person, stepping in front of me defensively.

"Go, Kaz. They want me, not you."

"What are…_who_ are-?"

"I told you, didn't I? I'm not normal. I've been running from them all my life. I can handle myself. I don't have time to explain, but they'll leave you alone if you go now."

I grabbed her wrist. "No. I'm going to show you the sky. I promised. Come on, run!"

She blinked in surprise, but a moment later she was sprinting alongside me, weaving through the marketplace quick as a cat. Sirea took the lead, knowing the area better than the men. We were kids; therefore, we were much more agile and flexible and had far more mobility. It wasn't long before we reached the gate that led out of the city - and by extension, out from under the Plate. Sirea was laughing; I noticed that I was laughing too. We were escaping successfully.

Then, she looked up and gasped. This was her first time seeing the sky. Unfortunately, it appeared to be cloudy and overcast at the moment, so she wasn't able to see the sun. Her pace slowed as she looked at it not in fear, but rather in awe. It was almost as though she was discovering fire for the first time - she knew it was dangerous, but the danger didn't take away from its beauty. She grabbed my hand without looking away, bracing herself as though all of her fears were hidden within the hazy clouds and she was demanding they face her.

"So, what do you think?" I asked her.

"It's…." She couldn't seem to find the words. She flinched and reached up to her cheek, her fingers coming away damp. "It's crying. The sky is sad."

"Rain," I said, not moving to _correct_ her, but rather making a simple observation. "It won't be like this forever. There's far more to the sky than this."

She nodded without a word.

"Hey," I pressed reassuringly. "We made it. You can come to my place and meet my parents. They won't let anything happen to you. You can see the sky whenever you want."

She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could speak, I was near deafened by the loud boom of a gunshot. She was falling, and then suddenly I was too. We hit the ground; I'm not sure if either of us even had the chance to feel the pain. There were tears running down her face, not hers, but the sky's.

The sky was crying for her. And I held her hand to keep her grounded the entire time.

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**In case it wasn't obvious, Sirea is Aeris backwards (I know her name's Aerith, but Sirea looks more like a name than Htirea) and Kaz is Zack backwards minus the c because then it would just look funny. Also I imagined those gov guys chasing after Aerith being Turks and they're after her because she's an Ancient and all, but I couldn't explain that in the story because again, teacher didn't want more than 3 pages and I at least made an _effort_ to cut this down.**


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